The Right Call at the Right Time: Toronto paramedic named Legend of the Call award winner

After his Toronto paramedic unit received a 911 call last August, Jason Hess was dispatched to help a man who was suffering from a seizure, in a prolonged postictal state, and unable to communicate.  Following the Look-Read-Call procedure first started by MedicAlert in 2011, the 15-year veteran quickly found the man’s MedicAlert ID and located the engraving on the back “ Epilepsy – Call for info” before placing a call to the 24/7 MedicAlert emergency hotline.
 
“Looking for a MedicAlert ID is part of our assessment. It has been ingrained in me since college,” explains Hess. “We were trained to look for the medical history and allergy information, but this was my first time calling the MedicAlert emergency hotline.”
 
MedicAlert has trained over 124,000 emergency responders like Jason through on-site training sessions, and by distributing materials to paramedic schools, nursing schools, medical schools, hospitals, police and other first responder organizations. In this case, the MedicAlert hotline agent was able to provide Jason with the patient’s identity, medical history, and list of medications to avoid. Additionally, a three-way conference call was set up with the man’s emergency contact, his sister.

“She was able to fill in more blanks for me and told me a little bit more about the patient’s history so I could treat him appropriately. It was a great help in that situation,” added Hess.
 
When Jason and his patient arrived at North York General Hospital, he shared this critical medical information with the triage nurse. He also informed her that a MedicAlert hotline agent had already faxed the patient’s medical record to the hospital prior to their arrival.
 
Not surprisingly, the man’s family lauds Jason’s proactivity and conscientiousness. It’s a sentiment echoed by MedicAlert’s President and CEO, Robert Ridge: “What defines all of our award winners is a dedication to go to extraordinary lengths for the benefit of the person in need. It’s precisely for outstanding healthcare professionals like Jason Hess that we created the Legends of the Call award.”
 
Jason’s Superintendent, David Cooke said, “I am not surprised that Jason has received this recognition.  His clinical assessment skills are excellent and he consistently uses all the information available to him when assessing his patients in order to first make an accurate assessment and secondly to provide outstanding care."
 
“Jason has fully utilized the value that MedicAlert provides in an emergency situation, which allows instant access to the patient’s critical medical and personal information. This is why we encourage all paramedics to look for the official MedicAlert emblem and follow the Look, Read, Call protocol in every emergency,” adds Randy Mellow, President of Paramedic Chiefs of Canada.   
 
The award will be presented to Jason at the Paramedic Chiefs of Canada Leadership Summit on June 8 ^th, in Halifax, NS.